"It's Too Hat in Here?" The Perception of NCS a-Fronting

What is the role of specific items in carrier phrases in promoting or demoting an advantage in understanding words that contain advanced tokens of change-in-progress sounds? Labov and Ash (1997) and Plichta (2004) note such an advantage for local speakers, but they do not provide evidence about individual features. In Labov and Ash (1997), carrier phrases contain other tokens of Northern Cities Shift (NCS) and Southern Yowel Shift (SYS) vowels. For the NCS test, had and sandals occur along with the test item socks; for the SVS test, I and knew occur along with the test item guy. In the NCS test, therefore, another vowel of the shift occurs (re), but not the same vowel as that of the test word socks. In the SVS test, however, I occurs, the same vowel as in the test item (guy). Additionally, the potential misunderstanding is a real word in the NCS test (socks) but not in the SVS test (gah). Finally, the NCS test gives a semantic/pragmatic clue to the identity of the word; the SVS test does not

Effects on sibship size and composition on younger brothers' and sisters' alcohol use initiation : findings from an Australian twin sample

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on September 18, 2012).The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file.Thesis advisor: Dr. Wendy S. SlutskeIncludes bibliographical references.M. A. University of Missouri--Columbia 2012."May 2012"The effects of sibship size and structure on delinquency are well established, but despite strong links between delinquency and alcohol use, the contribution of these factors to drinking behaviors remains largely unexplored. The current study investigated the impact of sibship size and composition on younger brothers' and sisters' ages of drinking and intoxication onset. Large sibship size was hypothesized to facilitate earlier onset in both males and females, and having many older brothers was hypothesized to predict earlier drinking in males and later drinking in females. These hypotheses were tested through a series of statistical investigations performed on information collected from a large Australian twin sample. Results indicated that sibship size and composition effects are strongest when older siblings are close in age. In addition, close in age siblings exerted the strongest effects on drinking when: (1) respondents were from homes of divorce; and (2) they did not have a paternal history of alcohol problems. Potential mechanisms behind these effects and their implications for prevention and intervention are discussed

Most of the genetic covariation between major depressive and alcohol use disorders is explained by trait measures of negative emotionality and behavioral control

Background Mental health disorders commonly co-occur, even between conceptually distinct syndromes, such as internalizing and externalizing disorders. The current study investigated whether phenotypic, genetic, and environmental variance in negative emotionality and behavioral control account for the covariation between major depressive disorder (MDD) and alcohol use disorder (AUD). Method A total of 3623 members of a national twin registry were administered structured diagnostic telephone interviews that included assessments of lifetime histories of MDD and AUD, and were mailed self-report personality questionnaires that assessed stress reactivity (SR) and behavioral control (CON). A series of biometric models were fitted to partition the proportion of covariance between MDD and AUD into SR and CON. Results A statistically significant proportion of the correlation between MDD and AUD was due to variance specific to SR (men = 0.31, women = 0.27) and CON (men = 0.20, women = 0.19). Further, genetic factors explained a large proportion of this correlation (0.63), with unique environmental factors explaining the rest. SR explained a significant proportion of the genetic (0.33) and environmental (0.23) overlap between MDD and AUD. In contrast, variance specific to CON accounted for genetic overlap (0.32), but not environmental overlap (0.004). In total, SR and CON accounted for approximately 70% of the genetic and 20% of the environmental covariation between MDD and AUD. Conclusions This is the first study to demonstrate that negative emotionality and behavioral control confer risk for the co-occurrence of MDD and AUD via genetic factors. These findings are consistent with the aims of NIMH's RDoC proposal to elucidate how transdiagnostic risk factors drive psychopathology

ssociations of Parental Alcohol Use Disorders and Parental Separation with Offspring Initiation of Alcohol, Cigarette, and Cannabis Use and Sexual Debut in High-Risk Families

Background and Aims Parental alcohol use disorders (AUDs) and parental separation are associated with increased risk for early use of alcohol in offspring, but whether they increase risks for early use of other substances and for early sexual debut is under-studied. We focused on associations of parental AUDs and parental separation with substance initiation and sexual debut to (1) test the strength of the associations of parental AUDs and parental separation with time to initiation (age in years) of alcohol, tobacco and cannabis use and sexual debut and (2) compare the strength of association of parental AUD and parental separation with initiation. Design Prospective adolescent and young adult cohort of a high-risk family study, the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA). Setting Six sites in the United States. Participants A total of 3257 offspring (aged 14–33 years) first assessed in 2004 and sought for interview approximately every 2 years thereafter; 1945 (59.7%) offspring had a parent with an AUD. Measurements Diagnostic interview data on offspring substance use and sexual debut were based on first report of these experiences. Parental life-time AUD was based on their own self-report when parents were interviewed (1991–2005) for most parents, or on offspring and other family member reports for parents who were not interviewed. Parental separation was based on offspring reports of not living with both biological parents most of the time between ages 12 and 17 years. Findings Parental AUDs were associated with increased hazards for all outcomes, with cumulative hazards ranging from 1.19 to 2.71. Parental separation was also an independent and consistent predictor of early substance use and sexual debut, with hazards ranging from 1.19 to 2.34. The strength of association of parental separation with substance initiation was equal to that of having two AUD-affected parents, and its association with sexual debut was stronger than the association of parental AUD in one or both parents. Conclusions Parental alcohol use disorders (AUDs) and parental separation are independent and consistent predictors of increased risk for early alcohol, tobacco and cannabis use and sexual debut in offspring from families with a high risk of parental AUDs